Anybody who's seen any of director Spike Jonzes' previous movies (Being John Malkovich with John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener and John Malkovich; Adaptation with Meryl Streep and Nicolas Cage; and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood) knows not to expect something conventional.
So it is with this new movie, adapted from Maurice Sendak's prize-winning children's book, co-written by Jonze and Dave Eggers (Away We Go; "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius;" McSweeney's magazine), and produced by Tom Hanks. The beasts' voices were created by actors including James Gandolfini (who has the largest animal role), Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker and Chris Cooper.
Max, who appears to be a loner, is the youngest son (to Catherine Keener's mother) in a family whose father, for reasons not known to us, is no longer there. Nor does his older sister protect him from the vicissitudes of her teen friends. When Max sees their mother kissing another man, his issues with impulse control and anger management explode. Unhappy at home, he leaves the house and "sails" for several days through rain and storm to an imaginary, rugged land populated by 10-foot high beasts who are truly wild.
This small group of large beasts not only leap about, break trees, crash into the ground and eat creatures the size of Max, they also argue with each other, expressing the familiar human emotions of hurt, anger, jealousy, low self-esteem, pettiness, self-pity, lying, sadness, breakups, and much more. Although they're 10 feet tall, their facial expressions are amazingly lifelike, thanks to impressive – and seamless – CGI work. A frightened and confused Max declares himself, out of self-protection, to be their king, and develops into a more mature and considerate adolescent.
Filmed in New Zealand, the movie contains a series of incredible, intense action sequences of the beasts playing and fighting, made all the more powerful via IMAX. The locales vary from a dense forest to huge golden sand dunes and spectacular beaches with huge surf. The creatures build huge, amazingly shaped structures from branches and trees, in which they live and play. Max creates games for them and acts as a civilizing influence.
If I were an analytical psychiatrist, I might say that the beasts represent Max's raging id, and that his beastly adventures force the development of a controlling superego that results in the creation of a healthy, normal ego. On the other hand, you could argue that the beasts represent the obnoxious, frightening aunts and uncles from Maurice Sendak's actual childhood.
In a way, Where the Wild Things Are is a coming-of-age movie that captures the adventure, excitement, and hardships of childhood, where we see Max eventually realize his limitations, grow homesick, and sail away from the all-too-human creatures whom he's befriended.
As much of a movie for adults as for older children, Where the Wild Things Are isn't suitable for small and impressionable kids. It's simply too intense, especially in IMAX. But if you're looking for a unique experience by a brilliant filmmaker – a fully realized world whose wild things are our negative emotions and dysfunctional interpersonal relationships, it might be the perfect antidote to the predictable product that Hollywood usually produces. It's wild, baby – really wild.
